Mentally ill male prisoners waiting longer for treatment

Mentally ill male inmates are waiting twice as long for treatment at the state's most secure forensic hospital as the prison population soars.

Prisoners assessed as mentally ill spent an average 10.7 days in the acute assessment unit of the Melbourne Assessment Prison last financial year before they were transferred to the Thomas Embling psychiatric hospital.

This compares to 5.7 days the previous year, according to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health's annual report.

A patient also committed suicide at the 118-bed hospital in June for the first time in its 13 years of operation.

The Fairfield hospital treats inmates who need involuntary mental health treatment, and those who have been found not guilty or unfit to be tried due to mental impairment.

Shadow parliamentary secretary for mental health Wade Noonan said the hospital was facing unprecedented demand from the state's ballooning prison population. He said prisoners were unable to access timely care and treatment for acute health issues because there were no available beds in the forensic hospital.

But the state government said it was committed to meeting increased demand for forensic mental health services. A spokesman for Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge said the state government had invested in 75 beds for people with a mental illness at the new Ravenhall Prison.

Forensicare, has also backflipped on its contentious pay-to-stay policy, which charged long-term and forensic patients.